A year ago, I gleefully posed for a picture in a party photo booth, knowing it had a beauty filter guaranteed to hide every wrinkle.

Gratifyingly, the pictures knocked a decade off my face but to my horror, Rod Stewart’s hair seemed to have taken up residence on my head, with spiky, wispy bits around the hair line.

Thanks to the fact that I was 48 and perimenopausal, I was being hit by a double whammy of ageing when hair naturally grows thinner, greyer and weaker and follicles die off – and the drop in female hormones which shortens the hair’s growth cycle.

According to market analysts, Mintel, 20 per cent of UK women between 45 and 64 notice hair loss as they get older – but there are ways of helping your hair be healthier

According to market analysts, Mintel, 20 per cent of UK women between 45 and 64 notice hair loss as they get older. ‘Unfortunately, by the time you notice hair thinning, you have to have lost over 15 per cent of the volume of it,’ explains consultant trichologist Anabel Kingsley, of the Philip Kingsley trichology practice in Mayfair.

But there is hope. Whether you’re approaching menopause, in the full swing of it, or coming out the other side, here’s how to stave off the damage…

Tricho 7 (£50 philipkingsley.co.uk)

Saw Palmetto Berry (£9.05)

TREAT YOUR SCALP

The balance between female and male hormones (androgens) starts to shift pre-menopause. Oestrogen drops, leaving us with proportionately more male hormones than we had before.

‘Androgens reduce the diameter and length of your hair.’ says Anabel. ‘As well as a reduction in body, you may experience thinning at your hairline and temples, or have increased hair fall.’

Daily anti-androgenic scalp drops will help to reduce androgen sensitivity in the follicles. Tricho 7 (£50 philipkingsley.co.uk) contains zinc sulphate, azelaic acid and B6 to reduce the conversion of testosterone to the more damaging dihydrotestosterone (DHT).

Nutritional therapist Olga Hamilton (olgahamilton.com)says: ‘DHT shrinks hair follicles leading to gradually weaker hairs.’ However, supplements can help by inhibiting the 5AR enzyme that converts testosterone into DHT.

The past two years have seen a revolution in hair technology. In-salon treatments such as Olaplex

STOP FIDDLING

L’Oreal’s new Smartbond, launched this month, penetrates the hair, strengthening bonds and in some cases rebuilding them

A major frustration of thin hair is that it lacks the weight to stay where you put it. Unless you spray it into submission Trump-style, you can end up continuously tugging it into place.

‘Fiddling and pulling are the worst things you can do,’ says Jamie Brooks, co-founder of London hair salon Brooks & Brooks. Pre-menopausal hair starts to grow weaker and finer so the more pulling, styling and colouring we do, the more the hair is inclined to break.

What’s more the hair that grows back will be shorter because the growth phase is decreasing.

‘The best thing you can do is leave it alone,’ says Jamie. But women of this age are also experiencing a rapid acceleration of grey, which brings its own problems. ‘Grey hair is more wiry and difficult to control – it also needs more peroxide to colour it permanently,’ he adds.

So at the time we should be doing nothing, we need colour and heat styling more than ever. Luckily the past two years have seen a revolution in hair technology. In-salon treatments such as Olaplex and Innoluxe and now L’Oreal’s new Smartbond, launched this month, penetrate the hair, strengthening bonds and in some cases rebuilding them. Treatments cost between £20 and £30.

EAT MORE CARBS

Our hair has the second fastest turnover of any cells in the body (after bone marrow) so as far as energy consumption goes – it’s hungry!

‘Complex carbohydrates – such as wholegrains, pulses, green veg – provide fast and sustained energy to form hair cells,’ says Anabel Kingsley. But, in terms of our survival, hair is non-essential tissue, so when energy supplies are low, the hair is the first thing our body neglects to feed.

Our hair has the second fastest turnover of any cells in the body (after bone marrow) so as far as energy consumption goes – it’s hungry!

‘I can always pinpoint when someone has done a juice fast,’ says Anabel. ‘They are terrible for the hair. An energy deficit affects the production of hair cells before it affects any other cells in the body.

‘Energy to form hair cells drops four hours after eating, so you should snack on a healthy carbohydrate, such as wholegrain crackers or a piece of fresh fruit,’ she says.

LOVE THE MUFFIN TOP

That spare tyre that creeps up in our 40s is there for a reason and shouldn’t be dieted away. ‘Crash diets can contribute significantly to sudden hair loss,’ says Harley Street Chinese medicine and hormone specialist Jani White (acuhouse.co.uk).

‘All through the perimenopausal phase, the body carefully stores extra oestrogen in the fat around the hips. By dieting to reduce this fat, we drain the oestrogens our body is storing to help us have a healthy menopause.’

A crash diet can show up six to 12 weeks later as excessive hair fall due to lack of nutrients, while a drop in oestrogen shortens the hair growth cycle, so it sheds before it reaches the lengths it used to.

Jani advises a wholefood diet rich in quality proteins and fats, antioxidants (eg fruit and veg) plus phytoestrogens (eg flax seeds) which aid oestrogen production, as the best way to keep hair flourishing.

LifePlan’s Amino Acid Complex, £3.49, dolphinfitness.co.uk

Anti-ageing supplement Lumity £79, lumityife.com

BOOST THE PROTEIN

The conductor of our hormonal orchestra is Human Growth Hormone (HGH), the body’s master hormone, which we make less of as we get older.

Taking three specific amino acids – the building blocks of protein – glutamine, arginine and lysine (available in the LifePlan’s Amino Acid Complex, £3.49, dolphinfitness.co.uk, and anti-ageing supplement Lumity £79, lumityife.com) – just before bedtime stimulates the release of the body’s HGH.

VITAMIN D DAY

Vitamin D3 is a key nutrient for hair growth.

Recent studies have found women with hair loss have much lower vitamin D levels than normal and vitamin D3 significantly enhances the growth of new hair.

‘A blood test will show the extent of the deficiency,’ says Olga Hamilton.